Pegasus? Is That You?

OK I confess: School is on vacation this week and as a result I've been a complete slacker about keeping up with the blog. I offer you all my most sincere apology ;)

Anyway, here's a little recap of the last several days:

Kate Babetski Photography picture from 2/16.
I swear I'll get new pictures soon!

FRIDAY: I brought JJ down to the ring with every intention of playing with the tarp again and taking it easy (recall that he was off for a couple days). The tarp was old news at this point and JJ pawed and sniffed it and when I threw it in the air he looked at it with boredom. I put the tarp down and began leading him around the ring. I was assuming, at this point, the he was still feeling sore and would be more comfortable just walking, but JJ had other plans. Poor thing was so bored at this point after only walking for four days in a row that he decided to take some time to work on flying. Up into the air he went. Front feet off the ground. Back feet off the ground. All four feet off the ground. For the next 45 seconds or so (OK, probably not quite that long but when your standing next to this flying creature he seems to carry on forever) he spent more time in the air than on the ground. He may have been trying to emulate Pegasus, and his leaps were actually pretty impressive. There may be an eventer in this horse yet! It took me a good 15 seconds (again, my perception of time may be faulty) to process what was happening and react. Thank god I had him on the lunge line instead of a short lead rope, and thank god I also had a whip (only a dressage whip, but better than nothing) in my hand to encourage his flying back feet away from me. I got him moving in a circle around me and he settled into a nice trot pretty quickly. Clearly if he is feeling good enough to fly, he can at the very least trot around. He behaved himself for the remainder of the workout. We even worked on changing direction on the lunge since it was only attached to the bottom of the halter

SATURDAY: I went ahead and tacked up JJ with the saddle, bridle, and pseudo-side reins. I took him down to the ring and sent him into a trot on the lunge. He was a perfect gentleman in both directions. BORING!

SUNDAY: The farrier finally came!! I was visiting family in Massachusetts so wasn't actually present for the visit, but I am told JJ stood very nicely for the application of four shiny new shoes. Yay!

Up he goes!

TUESDAY: I had been away Sunday and Monday which meant two days off for JJ - you know what that means! Fortunately so did I. I was ready for his attempted take-off: Part II and ignored his shenanigans. He carried on for quite some time and was actually quite entertaining, especially to the lucky barn rats who happened to be around at the time (Note: Barn rats are actually fellow riders who spend an inordinate amount of time at the barn. The term "barn rats" does not refer to actual rats). Eventually he wore himself out and maintained a perfectly nice trot in both directions. At this point I decided to take a risk. I really want to be able to turn JJ out but with sheer ice covering almost every surface I'm afraid he would kill himself. But  it kills me to see him cooped up all the time, so I decided to risk letting him loose in the ring. I brought him to the gate so that I could escape very quickly once he was loose, should he decide to be a crazy man. I unclipped him and slipped out quickly. He stood still for a moment, then... THEN.... HE WENT OVER TO THE PILE OF SNOW and started eating it. Yup. My crazy OTTB got loose and decided to spend his time eating snow. After a few nibbles of the snow he wandered around the ring until he found the only grass in existence right now - a little area of yellowish brown hidden in the corner. And there he stood for a good 10 minutes, enjoying every bit of it.

Kate Babetski Photography picture from 2/16.
I swear I'll get new pictures soon! Also, he
 is looking much better now!!

WEDNESDAY: I had lots of time at the barn today so I decided to work in two sessions with JJ. I started him out in the ring without tack but wrapped his front legs in polos and put bell boots on his front hooves. He looked so good! He trotted around nicely to the left, but had a little too much speed to the right and broke into a canter a few times. This, to me, is SO MUCH BETTER than any rearing and bucking BS. When he settled down I once again unclipped him to allow him a few minutes of wandering around the ring. He was really good again, and only trotted when he was spooked by an absurdly loud truck on the nearby road. After about 20 minutes I brought him back into the barn to give him a break while I rode another horse. I was picking out his feet when I noticed a barefoot left front. WTF?! This horse definitely had four shoes an hour ago!!! I put him in his stall and spent the next 15 minutes wandering the ring in pursuit of a little metal shoe. Cinderella's slipper, if you will. I found it in that damn little yellowish brown (and overly muddy) corner. Well, that makes a grand total of TWO DAYS that JJ kept all four shoes on. Bravo, JJ. Bravo. He had about an hour long break in his stall before I took him out again, tacked him up with psuedo-side reins, and brought him to the ring for another lunge. To keep things interesting this time I set up trotting poles and incorporated them into the lunging circle. The first time around, JJ broke from the trot into a walk and basically tripped over every single one. I couldn't help but laugh at him, then brought him back to the trot for a second attempt. He was good in both directions. We then spent some time working on standing at the mounting block while I lay over his back. He's getting better at standing still.. A little bit...

GOAL: GET NEW PICTURES!